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full screen Big draw when Claudia Sheinbaum earlier this week made her last appearance during the election campaign. Photo: Eduardo Verdugo/AP/TT
Less than 48 hours before the country’s election, a mayoral candidate has been murdered in the central Mexican state of Puebla, local authorities said.
That means at least 25 candidates have been killed in the run-up to the election, according to federal figures.
Jorge Huerta Cabrera was shot dead in the city of Izúcar de Matamoros on Friday afternoon. His wife and one of his colleagues were injured in the attack.
Mexico’s organized crime is behind the spiral of violence that has claimed the lives of politicians in the country for years, especially those holding or running for regional and local positions.
Around 100 million people are eligible to vote in Sunday’s election, which concerns president and congress at the national level, as well as thousands of regional and municipal posts. Claudia Sheinbaum is believed to be the country’s first female president and is thus expected to be faced with the task of tackling the cartels’ violence.